Piercing Shop in Saddle Rock, NY

The area now consisting of the Village of Saddle Rock was, like the rest of the Great Neck Peninsula, originally inhabited by the Matinecock Native Americans. The first European settlers arrived in the area during the 17th century. The Village of Saddle Rock is so named for an offshore boulder that gives the appearance of a saddle, first noted on a map in 1658, during these early years of European settlement.

The village is also home to a historic mill. Officially known as the Saddle Rock Grist Mill, it was built circa 1700 and is located inside a small cove that opens onto Little Neck Bay off Long Island Sound. The mill is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest continually operating tidal grist mill in the United States. The mill is now owned and operated by Nassau County as a working museum open to the public. The mill has been restored to its mid-19th-century appearance and is located on Grist Mill Lane.

The first Mayor of Saddle Rock was Roswell Eldridge, who was appointed “Acting Mayor” after he had incorporated his own private estate as the Village of Saddle Rock in 1911.